The Adventure of a Lifetime
by twilight girl456
Summary: When finding herself alone and sitting in the middle of a war, Lyra Gaines finds friendship in some interesting characters. I suck at summaries! Hope/OC
1. What a Mess

"**We never should've fought back…"**

"**We're all just gonna die anyway!"**

"**What did we do wrong?"**

These were all questions that everyone around me were asking themselves. And I was asking myself these questions, too. What is that we did so wrong…to have all this happen? What is that _I _did to end up in the position I am in now? How did I end up in the situation where I'm being purged for something that I have know idea that I did? I don't even want to go to Pulse! I just want to go back home…But what could I go back home to? The people that I called family were all gone. The army had just upped and appeared out of nowhere, not even giving any indication that they were coming. They killed my mom and dad, and my older brother. They killed them all. And they had taken me with them. My life was spared, and yet…my family's wasn't.

"What a mess…" I mumbled into my arms as I held my knees to my chest, sighing and closing my eyes. Perhaps I should enlighten you on who I am. My name is Lyra Gaines, and I'm 14 years old, orphaned, and I feel like I'm sitting in the middle of a war. Actually…I'm not sure how we even ended up here at the Resistance Front. Yes, we. I was sitting here with a group of people that I had been on the train with earlier, which was where we were set free by two people. And then, we all ended up here, all of us sitting in a group, none of us even bothering to stray away, for fears of being caught, or worse…killed.

But then again, people would probably prefer to die than go through all of this crap.

The sound of multiple footsteps caused me to bring my head back up from it's resting spot in my arms. I watched as four people, three guys and a woman, approached us, guns in their hands, all except for one. The guy wearing the white trench coat and the black bandana on his head, blonde hair coming out from it slightly.

"You all okay?"

That one question that came from his mouth caused everyone else around me to stare up at him and the others. And it was that one question that made realize that these were the good guys. The Rebels.

One of them, the one whom I figured to be the youngest on the team, tripped, dropping several guns, causing me to giggle slightly. "W-whoa!"

Trench Coat looked down at him, frowning slightly. "Hey, careful with those." The boy gave a nervous laugh, causing the man to smile slightly, before his face grew serious again and he looked back at us. "Don't worry, no one's moving to Pulse today. We'll clear you a path out of here, so be ready to-"

"Wait! Let me fight with you!" One man exclaimed, standing up.

"Yeah, you can't expect us to just sit here!" Another one shouted, standing up as well.

While Trench Coat discussed the idea with his orange haired teammate, everyone else around me began talking amongst themselves about it. Finally, the first man spoke. "Please. Let us help."

An explosion that wasn't too far away from where we all were caused the Rebels to turn around look at it, and everyone else to gasp in worry. Finally, Trench Coat gave everyone his answer. "Okay then. Volunteers front and center." He ordered.

Most of the people around me stood up, walking over to the group and picking up a gun, but I couldn't find it in myself to get up and be brave. I was only fourteen, but I could fight, yet…I was too scared to even go over and pick up a gun. The woman who was sitting right next to me stood up.

"Mom?" I looked over to find that it was the person sitting on my other side that had spoken.

She turned around to look at the boy, giving him a small smile. "Don't worry." She reassured, before walking over and getting in line.

I could tell that the boy was nervous when he saw his mother pick up one of those guns. I felt sorry for him. Trench Coat walked forward, the last gun in his hands. "All right, last one. Somebody take it." He said, holding it out in front of the boy.

"No…I can't." The boy said, scooting back, bumping into me slightly. I saw a bit of his face. He had silver hair, and green-blue eyes, both showing the resemblance he and his mother shared. He happened to glance up at me, and I sent him a small smile, but he turned around quickly, not returning the smile.

"Here!" One girl said, holding out her arms expectantly to Trench Coat as she sat on her knees. He handed it to her.

"Push comes to shove, keep 'em safe." He told her, giving her a small wink.

She pretended to shoot and fire the gun. "Bang!" She said quietly, and Trench Coat pretended to be hit. The small little show made me giggle slightly at how silly this guy was, causing the girl to look at me and smile.

"All right, lay low and you'll be fine. We'll clear the area. We're going home together!" He exclaimed, throwing his fist in the air, while all of us just stared up at him, most of us still recovering from the attack on the train earlier.

The woman who had come with him smiled at us all. "Come on! Everybody up!" She ordered. I stood up like everyone else was, and stared at the backs of the recruits and Rebels as they all took off to clear the pathway. The woman who was that boys mother stopped and turned around, sending a smile to her son before she took off again. I felt myself being moved aside by that one woman who had told us to get up, and I began to walk, the girl that Trench Coat had given the gun to walking up and evening her pace with mine so we fell in step together.

"Hello!" She said cheerily, causing me to fully glance at her this time.

I gave her a small smile. "Hi…" I said quietly.

"What's your name?" She asked, giving me a curious look.

"Lyra. What's yours?" I asked her.

"Vanille. It's nice to meet you." She said, grinning brightly, while I simply smiled a small smile.

"Nice to meet you, too." I said quietly, before looking back ahead. That's when a huge explosion coming from the other bridge shook the one we were on. I stumbled slightly, catching my balance by grabbing onto the boy, who easily steadied me. I thanked him quietly, before running forward so we could see what was happening on the other side. I gasped quietly, while Vanille gasped loudly, her hands flying to her mouth as we watched people falling down into the darkness below. And then a second explosion came, and I noticed that the boy seemed to freeze up. I saw that Trench Coat was hanging on for his life, trying to hold onto that boys mother. I couldn't see what all happened, but she seemed to go limp, and then…she slipped.

I don't know which was worse; Having to see that boy's mother fall, or having to hear his pain filled screams. Or maybe the one thing that was worse above all of them was him getting ready to lunge forward, as if he wanted to die, too. Well, he probably would've, had I not grabbed him and stopped him before he had the chance to. He had a familiar look of pain and sadness in his eyes, and tightened my grip on his arm.

"I'm so sorry…" I mumbled, giving him a look of sympathy.

He said nothing.

Vanille pulled on my arm. "Come on!" I moved forward, the boy's arm still in my grasp, but he didn't even budge. Vanille, apparently impatient, slapped him across the face. "We have to move!"

"All right." He mumbled, this time moving with us as Vanille dragged us both along with her as we ran back to the group. The boy sat down, while Vanille and I watched some strange big machine fly across the sky and the boy began to take off the ridiculous cloak that all of us were given. When he had ridded of it, I finally got to see what he really looked like. He was wearing a black shirt under his orange short sleeve jacket, and he wore a green scarf around his neck, while his hands were covered by black top gloves, while the bottom of them were white.

I noticed that Vanille had taken off her cloak as well, fixing her bright red hair which was tied into curly little pigtails. She turned around to stare at us, her green eyes shining as she grinned. Her outfit consisted of a bright pink halter top and a short yellow skirt, some type of fur thing hanging on her waist, and she wore a lot of beaded items. She glanced away from us and down at the ground, moving over to pick up the gun that Trench Coat had given to her from before, moving over to us and thrusting it into the boys hands. "Here."

The boy stared down at it, not really knowing what to think. "Uh…"

Vanille moved forward and embraced him, surprising him. She gently stroked his hair as she spoke. "It's too much, isn't it?" She asked, pulling away from him and giving him a smile. "Face it later."

He opened his mouth to say something, but I beat him to it. "Even when we're sad, we have to keep moving forward. It's what helps us get through tough times." I said, giving him a small smile. I took a hold of the cloak I was wearing and threw it off, allowing everyone to see what I really looked like. My hair rested on my shoulders, while my bangs fell in place around my face, bringing it out. My blue duster flitted around for a moment before settling in place. My clothes were a bit wrinkled, so I smoothed out my black tank top, and my shorts, making sure my shoelaces were tied. I moved my hand to my other wrist and pulled off a hair tie, reaching it back to fix my light brown hair into its normal ponytail, making sure it was nice and strong enough to stay in place before turning back to smile at Vanille and the boy.

Vanille laughed slightly before waving. "Ciao!" She exclaimed, running off.

"Hey! Wait!" The boy exclaimed, taking off after her, the gun remaining on the ground. I sighed, reaching down and picking it up, making sure there was enough ammo in it before taking off after them.

"Hey, you guys! Wait for me!"

**

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**A/N: So, this is my first FF13 fanfic ever, so I'm sorry if it was a bit crappy! Thanks for reading! Later Taters!**


	2. Pulse fal'Cie

**A/N: So, I'd like to thank Stonehenge for being my first reviewer! I feel motivated to write a bit more for this story now! So, here's chapter 2! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of ff13. I only own this story and Lyra Gaines. **

* * *

"_Mom's birthday is tomorrow, Matt." _

"_I know." _

"_Did you get her a present yet?" _

"_Huh?" _

_I sighed, crossing my arms across my chest and frowning at my older brother. "Matt, you know mom will be really upset when she realizes you forgot her birthday when you walk up to her with no present." _

"_What'd you get her?"_

"_None of your business. Now get off your butt and go buy mom something fast!" _

"_Geez, love you too, my bossy little sister!" _

The memory of that day before my mothers birthday ended when I bumped into the boy, proving that I had been so distracted, I wasn't even paying attention to my surroundings, or where I was walking. He looked at me confusedly, and I felt my cheeks heat up from embarrassment as I gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry…"

He nodded instead of speaking, before he glanced forward again, gesturing over to the group of people. I noticed that Trench coat was there with them, and not dead and all squished like I had thought him to be when he fell.

"That's the one." The boy said, nodding to over to Trench coat.

"Didn't you have something to tell him?" Vanille asked.

He nodded. "Yeah."

"All right then!" Vanille exclaimed quietly, a smile on her face.

"But…I…" The boy began, apparently not being able to find the right words to say.

"We'll go with you." Vanille told him, looking over at me, the boy turning his gaze to me as well. I smiled, nodding my head in agreement.

Vanille moved to stand behind him, and she pushed him forward. "Go on!" He nearly fell, and I mentally asked if she needed to push him that hard. Even though she had done that, the boy still didn't budge, and it was clear to me that he still wasn't confident enough to go up there. Vanille sighed and walked forward a bit, and yelled to them. "Hey!"

The only reply we got was the from their vehicles, which made an awful and loud noise. We all covered our ears, the three of us watching as the vehicle that trench coat was on lifted up and took off, Vanille trying to run forward, as if to stop it, but she stopped and dropped her arm, groaning in disappointment. While Vanille stood there and moped, and the boy just simply stood there, I noticed another vehicle like the one trench coat had taken off on. I moved over to it, Vanille and the boy right behind me. Vanille and I looked inside of it for a moment before looking over at the boy.

"Hm? You okay?"

"I want to tell him, it's just that-" He stopped and grabbed my arm, surprising me a bit. He gave me a surprised look before letting my arm go, and I simply smiled.

Vanille looked back at the vehicle before looking back at the boy. "Say…You know how to fly this?"

He glanced at the vehicle and gave a small nod. "Yeah. I think so."

While Vanille shook his arm up and down and laughed happily, I stared at the vehicle unsurely. "But…it's a piece of junk that looks like it's about to fall apart." I stated, only to be ignored. Vanille came up behind me and pushed me into the vehicle so I was seated behind the boy. She climbed in after me, putting her hands on my shoulders and pointing forward. "That way!"

We both followed her finger to a large machine that looked anything but safe. I wrapped my arms around the boys waist while Vanille wrapped hers around mine so we wouldn't fall off. The boy made a shocked sound before looking down and shaking his head. "No, no…If we go in there, that thing could-It could make us l'Cie ." He glanced at us over his shoulder. "This is… I don't think I can-"

I silenced him by releasing my grip on his waist and grabbing the wheel, smiling at him while Vanille smiled as well. "You _can_ do it!" Vanille told him, me nodding in agreement.

"What are you three doing?" The orange haired man yelled as he spotted us, now running towards us.

"Here we go!" The boy exclaimed, pressing something, causing the vehicle to shake slightly. I wrapped my arms back around his waist as the vehicle lifted up into the air. We hit something, and I nearly screamed, squeezing my eyes shut and burying my face into the boys shoulder. I was beginning to doubt the boys statement about being able to fly this thing, since he was doing a pretty bad job at it. We all screamed as we were thrown out of the machine and to the ground, the sound a loud crash sounding near us. Vanille got up and dusted herself off.

"Wow, that was close." I nodded my head, sitting up, the boy doing the same. "Now, where is the…" Vanille mumbled as she stood up and turned around. The vehicle was now a piece of even bigger junk as it lied near us in a big heap, completely destroyed. "Oops…."

I sighed, glancing around. "Looks like were the only ones here…" I stood up and dusted myself off.

"What did you expect?" The boy asked. "Even soldiers know not to go near the fal'Cie. You become a Pulse l'Cie, and you're finished."

I frowned. "What do you mean, 'finished'?" I asked.

"Haven't you heard, Miss-?" He paused, and I realized that I had yet to introduce myself to him.

"Lyra."

He looked up at me with a confused look. "Huh?"

I giggled slightly. "Lyra Gaines. My name, silly. And yours?" I asked as I held a hand out to help him up.

He took it and sighed. "Hope."

"And I'm Vanille." Vanille introduced herself as she moved forward and began to dust Hope off.

Hope mumbled a thanks before he frowned again. "What were we thinking?"

Vanille put a hand to her chin. "Well, since we're here, let's look around!" We followed her up a set of stairs, where she suddenly took off, Hope and I running after her. She came back out with a Binding Rod, striking a pose for us. "Well?"

"That's, uh…" Hope began, stopping when he couldn't seem to figure out what to say.

Some strange monster appeared before us and let out a roar, surprising us a bit. Vanille got into a stance, and Hope pulled out an Airwing. I smiled. Instead of pulling out one of the many weapons I had on me, I cracked my knuckles together and got in a stance, launching the first attack on the creature with a forceful punch while Vanille and Hope both finished it off with their weapons. Vanille smiled, putting the Binding Rod away. "Okay! Back to exploring!"

"Aren't you two scared?" Hope asked us as we followed Vanille.

"Not so much." Vanille said.

He glanced over at me while I played with my fingers. "I'm not quite sure…whether I should just be scared, terrified, or both. But, I'm not here by myself, so I guess I really have no reason for being scared or terrified."

"You really don't get it." Hope said, and I wasn't really sure whether the words were directed to me, Vanille, or both of us.

Vanille, apparently aggravated by Hope's constant moping, huffed and turned around. "Pulse fal'Cie and l'Cie are bad news. That's why Cocoon kicked them out. Live too close to the fal'Cie? One-way ticket to Pulse! That's the Purge in a nutshell."

"If they catch us here, they'll purge us too. And then-"

"What's your problem?" Vanille asked, interrupting him.

"What's my-? Pulse is hell on earth!"

Vanille pulled him into a hug. "We'll be okay! Calm down!" Vanille assured him.

Hope moved out of her embrace. "Get off me." He began to walk off a little ways and I heard Vanille sigh next to me. I opened my mouth to say something, but someone shouting from above stopped me from doing so.

"_**Serah? Can you hear me? Where are you?" **_And then… _**"Hang on, baby! Your hero's on the way!"**_

All the sudden these orange lights appeared and a set of stairs emerged from the ground in front of us.

"He _is _here." Hope said from in front of me, staring down at the floor. "Calling himself a hero…"

Vanille and I both walked over to stand next to him. "He's coming our way." Vanille pointed out, causing him to look over at the both of us.

"What should I do?" Hope asked us.

"Tell him what you need to!" Vanille told him.

He got a sad look on his face. "But nothing I say will change what happened."

I sighed and put a hand to my chin. "We could always just run away, y'know."

He gave me a look before he nodded his head in determination, moving off, Vanille and I moving after him. Not too far ahead, there was a large Machine thing, and it was apparently our destination. Once we had reached it, I stared up at it in awe, surprised that it was bigger than it looked.

"Woah…" Hope mumbled.

I was content for a moment, until the sound of roaring reached our ears, making me jump slightly. I glanced down from where the sounds had come from, nearly screaming when I realized they were monsters that were walking like zombies from a horror movie would, not to mention that they looked like zombies as well. And just like zombies, they didn't look too friendly either. I looked towards the other side, where there were more monsters just like the other ones, making their way towards us. Either way, the chances of us getting out of this were pretty slim.

"Wh-what are those things?" I asked as the three of us moved to stand closer to each other.

"Cie'th! L'Cie that failed!" Vanille explained to me. "This is what happens-when l'Cie don't complete the Focus the fal'Cie gave them."

The monsters had us surrounded now, and to be completely honest, I was terrified. I was ready for the end, when I heard someone give a battle cry. Trench coat came running up the stairs, knocking one of the Cie'th out of the way, standing in front of us with his arms held out. "Let's even these odds!"

We all nodded in agreement, getting into stances. This time, I pulled out my dual blades to fight with, figuring now was as good as anytime to use them. It didn't take long to get rid of those monsters, but it was very tiring. I thought that maybe I was the only one who felt exhausted, but Hope and Vanille proved me wrong, Hope falling to the ground on his knees while Vanille had her hands on her knees, panting and trying to catch her breath. I put my dual blades away, trying to catch my breath, while Trench coat turned around to face us.

"How'd you get in here? You've gotta leave."

Vanille and I both looked over at Hope before looking back over at Trench coat, Vanille laughing innocently while I simply smiled and innocent smile before speaking. "Ah, well see, we would leave…If we knew how to get out."

He sighed and put his hands on his hips. "Okay, listen. Find someplace to hide and keep quiet. Once I find Serah, we'll all leave together." He began to walk away, Vanille making a shocked sound, while Trench coat chuckled slightly, giving us a smile and a thumbs up. "You'll be home in time for dinner."

"You-" Hope started, only to have Vanille cut him off.

"Wait!" Vanille called, causing Trench coat to stop. "Who's Serah?"

"My wife." Trench coat explained, a small smile on his face. "Future wife, that is. She's a Pulse l'Cie."

"Oh no." Vanille mumbled from her spot next to me, a sad look on her face.

"She's here somewhere, along with that fal'Cie. I've gotta find her and set her free." Trench coat explained to us, determination clear in his voice, beginning to move off again, only to have Hope stop him.

"What's wrong with you? Why do you want to help a l'Cie? They're the enemy!" Trench coat turned around to stare at Hope. "How can you save a l'Cie, and not…And not…That's insane!"

Trench coat laughed slightly. "Probably." He said, scratching the back of his head. "But I gotta do something, right? I'll be back!" With that said, he took off again, leaving us behind.

His words echoed in my head. They were the same words that Matt had said to me before everything bad happened.

"_Matt, don't you know what they'll do to you? They'll kill you if they see you and you start attacking them!"_

"_Probably. But I gotta do something, right? I'll be back! And I'll be just fine! You stay here, 'kay, Lyra?" _

"_Matt! MATT!" _

'_Why couldn't you have just stayed put?' _

Vanille's voice brought me out of my thoughts. "Should we wait around for him, and hitch a ride?"

Hope slammed his fist into the ground. "I'd rather go to Pulse!" Hope yelled at us. "Why is this happening to me? When they found the fal'Cie the other day, we were just visiting Bodhum. But the army took us. Threw us on that train…And because of that guy, Mom is-And he wants to help a l'Cie?"

"Stop it." I ordered him quietly. He opened his mouth to yell at me, but I silenced him again. "Look, losing someone is hard…But you need to understand that you're not the only one that's suffering from a loss. In fact, you're actually quite lucky, Hope."

"Lucky? My mom is gone, and it's because of that guy! You don't know anything about how I'm feeling-"

"My family's gone…" That shut him up. "My mom, my dad…and even my older brother…They're all gone. When they threw me onto that train, I was all alone. I didn't know anybody. But…when I say that you're lucky, I mean that you're lucky because you got to have your mom with you the entire time on that train. You're lucky because you got have her a little a longer then I got to have mine. I wish that I could've done something to save them, just like Trench coat is trying to help that Serah girl. But…well, I'll never get that chance. The only thing I can do is try to keep going on."

I was glad that I was turned away from both of them, or they would've seen the tears sliding down my cheeks. I didn't think anyone else would say anything, but Hope spoke up. "I'm sorry…"

I wiped my eyes as soon as I heard footsteps coming back towards us. Trench coat walked up the stairs and stopped, smiling at us and waving. "Hey again."

Vanille greeted him back while I simply waved. Vanille grabbed one of my hands and one of Hope's, pulling us up. "Let's go with him."

I nodded and looked over at Hope, who looked at us as if we were crazy. "What?"

"You've gotta talk to him, Hope. If you don't take this chance, you'll regret it forever." Vanille told him, and I nodded with her in agreement.

"She's right, y'know. Why wait when you have the opportunity to do it right now?" I sent him a smile.

He smiled back and nodded. "Okay."

Vanille and I helped him back up and we stared at Trench coat. He smiled at us and waved us over. "Let's go!"

And so, we followed him.

* * *

Eventually, we had reached the bottom of wherever we were headed to while we rode down on a platform, and Trench coat yelled. "Serah!" With that said, he jumped off and ran over to the group of people.

We followed after him, and I noticed that this girl Serah was being held by someone who looked like an exact copy of her. I heard Vanille gasp, but I didn't bother to see why. When I could tell how Serah was struggling to talk and keep her eyes open, I had a good idea of what was happening.

"Let's get you out of here." Trench coat said, only to have the woman that was holding Serah send him an angry look.

"Hands off. I'm taking her home."

"Sis, I-"

"I'm not your sister! You couldn't protect her. It's your fault she-"

"You can save us." Serah intervened, her voice weak.

"Serah?" The older woman asked.

"You can save us." Serah repeated. "Protect us all. Save…Cocoon."

"Save Cocoon? Serah? That was your Focus?"

"Anything, I'll do anything. Leave it to me-you'll see. I'll protect Cocoon! I'll save everyone!" Trench coat assured her.

"Somehow, I'll make things right." The older woman told her.

"You just relax." Trench coat said.

Serah smiled. "Thank you." She began to glow a bright blue, and began to float up into the air.

"Serah!" The woman exclaimed.

She was beginning to crystallize, and before I knew it, she was completely crystallized. Trench coat called out her name. "Serah! Serah!" He tried to reach her, but he couldn't.

"Why is she turning to crystal?" Vanille asked no one in particular.

"L'Cie who fulfill their Focus are transformed into crystal and gain eternal life." Hope explained to us.

"Just like the stories say." Another man who was there with us said.

"Serah…Sweet dreams." Trench coat told her, a sad look on his face. The other woman pushed the third man out of the way as she made her way to Trench coat.

"Sweet dreams? She's not sleeping! Serah's…She's-"

"She's alive!" Trench coat assured.

"No."

"The legend! Remember the legend! L'Cie who fulfill their Focus turn to crystal and gain eternal life. It's the same with Serah. Eternal life! She's not dead! Serah's my bride-to-be. I promised to be hers forever. I don't care how many years I have to wait-"

He was silenced by the older woman, who punched him, knocking him backwards and flat onto his back. "It's over! Open your eyes and face reality!"

We were silent, until a loud crashing noise was heard and everything began to shake. Hope fell to the ground and covered his ears with his hands, and I nearly fell down, struggling to keep my balance.

"What now?" Vanille asked.

"The army!" The man with the afro exclaimed.

Things were beginning to fall, like the beams that held everything up, and the shaking was beginning to get worse.

"What's happening?" Vanille asked as she helped me keep my balance.

Afro spoke again. "Must be a sanctum strike. Bring down the Vestige and the fal'Cie right with it!"

"Aren't they taking it back to pulse?" Vanille asked him as she ran over and grabbed his arms. "That's what the purge was, right?"

"All they care about is getting everything from Pulse off Cocoon. Dead or alive, it's all the same."

I felt someone grab my hand and I looked down to notice that it was Hope. He spoke as he squeezed it. "We can't stay here! They'll kill us!"

I knelt down next to him and squeezed his hand back. The shaking ceased, and all of us looked around anxiously. Trench Coat began to walk off, afro yelling after him. "Trench coat. Where you going?"

He stopped and turned around. "Date with the fal'Cie. Got some things to talk about."

"What? You're gonna ask _it _to help her? Are you out of your mind, kid? That thing wants to chew us up and spit us out!"

"Well, what do you want me to do?"

The other woman walked ahead and left us, Trench coat calling after her. "Lightning?"

Afro followed after them, and eventually we did as well, Hope holding onto my arm the entire time, until we reached a dark and pretty much empty room, save for the extremely big and creepy machine in front of us. "So this is…the fal'Cie."

"Serah's a crystal now. You gave her a focus, and she did it! You got what you want! Now let her go!" Trench coat ordered, not getting a response. He got down on his knees. "Please. Turn her back! I'll be your l'Cie instead!"

"Fine, you go on begging." Lightning said, pulling out a Gunblade. "Like this thing gives a damn what we want!" She tried hitting it but it didn't do much good.

"Lightning!"

"It's this things fault the Purge started, and it's people who are dying. Serah told us to save Cocoon. That means this thing needs to die!" The floor began to glow all of the sudden, causing everyone to shout in surprise and cover their eyes. When the light died down some, it revealed the machine, which looked more like a monster now. Hope took off, Vanille and I running after him, while Lightning, Trench coat, and Afro took on the machine.

The next thing I knew was that we were all falling, or more like floating, in the dark, the sound of bells tolling. I was so confused, that I couldn't exactly realize what was going on until tentacles shot out and grabbed us all. It was the fal'Cie. I felt something burn into my hip. And then…these horrible pictures flashed through my head of some monster, and the destruction of Cocoon. And then I saw nothing…just darkness.

**A/N: Blegh, I finished this yesterday, and it didn't seem to come out too well D: I'm sort of home with a terrible cold, so I guess you could blame it on that. Eh, whatever! Hope someone enjoyed! LATER TATERS!**


	3. Lake Bresha

"_And you put this together and then this, and…Voila! A nicely built sword!"_

"_Cool! Hey, dad?"_

"_Hm? What is it, Lyra?"_

"_Will you teach me how to fight with swords and other stuff?"_

_He smiled, ruffling her hair. "Sure thing, kiddo. I'll teach you everything I know."_

"…yra. Lyra…Wake up, Lyra!"

"…ou don't think she's dead, do you?"

"Don't be so negative! Oh, look! She moved! Lyra, can you hear me?"

I opened my eyes slowly, the first thing I was able to register was that I was on the ground and that I was cold. I sat up and shook my head, taking in my surroundings. We were in some type of…crystallized place, though I didn't deny the fact that it was breathtakingly beautiful. The one thing I didn't like about it was that it was terribly cold, something I disliked. I can't help it, I was born and raised in a warm place! "Where are we?"

"Lake Bresha," Vanille said, holding a hand out to me. I took it and allowed her to help me up so I could walk around a bit.

"Lake…Bresha? But…why is it like this now?"

"When we fell, the lake must've turned into crystal." Afro said, staring up from where we had fallen. "Help me out here! I mean, did the fal'Cie do this? How in the world did we end up here?"

"How should I know?" Lightning asked, seeing as how the question was directed to her.

"We're alive," Vanille said in surprise, falling down to her knees, "How?"

"Serah!" Trench Coat suddenly exclaimed, all of us staring over at him. "No one survives a fall from that high, not without a miracle. Serah saved us!"

"Serah? Listen. It's all your fault she got-" She wasn't able to finish, due to the monster coming up behind her and catching all of our attentions. Before it could squish Lightning, Snow jumped in front of her and blocked it's arm, his arm suddenly glowing as he punched the creature and killed it. He stared down at his arm in shock.

"What…did I just do?"

Hope stood up next to me. "You used magic!" More creatures were coming now. "You used the power of a l'Cie! The fal'Cie curse us. We're l'Cie now!"

Trench Coat, Lightning, and Vanille took out the rest of the monsters before everything was calm again.

"So we really are l'Cie."

Afro let out a sigh. "Look's like it."

"You too?" Trench coat asked, looking at Vanille and I. I nodded, lifting up the side of my shirt to reveal the mark on my side, Vanille lifting up part of her skirt to reveal the mark on her side. "Okay."

"L'Cie to the last." Lightning said as we all gathered in a circle. Hope fell to his knees.

"Why me?" He mumbled, before sending an angry look at Lightning. "I don't even know you! But you have to go and attack that thing? Just leave me alone!" He looked at Trench coat. "It's your fault-it's your fault my-! You could've-!" He stood up and glared at Trench Coat angrily. "All of this is your and Serah's fault!"

That definitely hit a nerve. "Watch it!"

Hope fell to the ground and backed up, bumping into Lightning instead. He crawled away and held his head in his hands, cowering away. I walked over to him and knelt down next to him, glaring up at Trench coat, who sighed looking away. "Sorry."

Vanille put a hand on Hope's shoulder giving him a reassuring smile. "Everything's gonna be all right. You'll see."

He looked at me and I smiled, nodding in agreement. "She's right. It'll all be okay…"

Vanille helped him and began to drag us away to explore, the others following behind us. I zoned out and wasn't really listening to the conversation topic going on, until Lightning spoke to me. "Did you see anything?"

I realized she was talking about when we were falling. "Hm? Oh! Yeah, I did! It was big, humongous! And….it was really scary too…" I said, mumbling the last part to myself, clasping my hands together and holding them to my chest.

"W-wait a minute. Hold on now. Did we _all _have the same dream?"

"Ragnarok…"

The pictures from earlier flashed through my mind again and I shook my head, squeezing my eyes shut.

"So, we all saw the same dream. We all heard that same voice."

"You mean that was our Focus? But how are we supposed to know what to do from that?" Hope asked.

"That's the tricky part. The dream is the only hint the fal'Cie gives us. Figuring out what to do with it-that's our job." Vanille explained, and I sighed, walking off a ways and sitting down somewhere, hugging my knees to my chest and resting my head on top of them. Someone suddenly grabbed me and pulled me to my feet and began to drag me along, that person being Vanille, Trench Coat in front of us.

"Say, kid," Trench Coat said, looking down at me. "Can you fight?"

I would've laughed, had the mood called for it, "Why do you ask?"

"You look kind of-" I cut him off by punching him in the arm, earning a bit of laughter from him as he reached up and rubbed the spot, grinning at me slightly. "Stronger than you look. Some punch you've got."

"I guess…." I mumbled, looking at the ground. This guy…he reminded me of my older brother…

He was exactly like him.

"Weird, isn't it? Of all the messed up ways to meet…Might as well make introductions? I'm Snow-Snow Villiers. Short stuff?"

Hope glanced at him quietly. "Hope. Hope Estheim."

"What about her?" Vanille asked, pointing to Lightning. He informed us who she was, but that Lightning really wasn't her real name. Her last name was Farron. "I'm Vanille!"

"Sazh Katzroy. Good to meet you." Afro said.

"What about you?" He asked, gesturing to me. "What's your name?"

"M-my name's Lyra….Lyra Gaines, Mr. Snow."

He chuckled. "Actually, it's just Snow."

I simply nodded and gave him a small smile, "Right…nice to meet you, Snow…And everyone else."

I felt myself being dragged away again by Vanille, who was giggling happily as she skipped along, Hope not too far behind us. Vanille let me go to turn back to face the rest of our misfit group and wave her arms around at them.

"Hey! Come on, Come on!" I couldn't help but giggle quietly as I watched Vanille grab Hope's hand and lift it up to wave it around with her own. Once more, we all began to travel further into Lake Bresha, me not really paying attention to anything, unless we ran into some monsters and had to fight. I kept my gaze to the ground and in front of me pretty much the entire time, and my mouth shut. I had nothing to say, so why try speaking to anyone? Not like it mattered.

Maybe I should just go mute….

"W-whoa!" I exclaimed as I felt myself being dragged forward again by Vanille, looking up to see that Snow was kneeling in front of some crystal stalagmites, and I realized why.

That girl that had been turned to crystal, Serah, was wedged in them.

"We'll help!" Vanille told snow, handing me a piece of what appeared to be broken debris, getting to work on helping Snow, me moving right behind her to help.

"Thanks," Snow grunted, continuing to try and free Serah, Sazh moving to help out as well. Hope looked like he was going to join in, but he stopped as Snow stood up and turned around to look at Lightning, who was beginning to walk away.

"Lightning?" we all stopped to listen, "You're just gonna leave her?"

"PSICOM will be here soon. If they find us, we're all dead. You think Serah would want that? You think you know how she feels?" She began to walk away again, Snow speaking once more.

"If I leave her, then I'll never know," Lightning stopped again to listen, "We'll be fine. I can handle anything they throw at us. No one will die. I'll protect Serah. And Cocoon!"

Lightning turned back with a dangerous look on her face as she stomped back to Snow, and I figured she was gonna hurt him in some way…

Turns out, I was right. She slugged him, and he fell backwards into Sazh, knocking them both onto the ground, eliciting a gasp from Vanille.

"Does she look protected to you?"

Snow got back up and moved back to Lightning, only to get punched in the face by her again.

"What can you possibly do?"

"Whatever it takes!"

My thoughts drifted back to a few days ago as the words reached my ears.

"_Matt! Don't do it!" _

_Warm hands gripped my shoulders and green orbs bore into my own soft brown ones, the intensity making something within me panic. _

"_Mom and dad need help…and since I'm the oldest, I have to go and rescue them."_

"_But those soldiers will kill you!"_

_Matt's grip on my shoulders tightened to the point where it sort of hurt a little. "Listen to me, Lyra. I will do whatever it takes to help my family…even if it means having to risk my life." _

"_Mattie…"_

"…-OVE!" I felt myself being knocked down to the ground, shock overtaking me. I looked up to see Hope on top of me, before he helped me up and moved back as far away as he could, dragging me along with him. I wanted to ask him what was wrong with him, when I noticed the giant monster that had shown up.

As we stayed hidden, watching as Lightning, Snow, and Vanille fought the large monster, Hope spoke up to me.

"Who's Mattie?"

I felt myself stiffen, realizing I must've said my brother's name out loud during my reminiscing.

I didn't answer the question, since the battle had stopped and the monster had fallen, causing me to run over to them to escape anymore persisting questions from Hope. It's not that I didn't want to tell him, I just didn't want to talk about my brother to someone I had only just met recently.

Lightning began to move off, and Snow jumped in front of her to block her way. "You're leaving?"

She didn't respond, and Sazh stepped forward, his tone sounding honest and sincere.

"We want to help Serah too," he looked over at the crystallized Serah and groaned, placing his hands on his hips, "But without tools…we could be digging for days."

"So," I began, everyone looking over at me in surprise, since I hadn't really spoken a lot since we had all joined up, "what you're saying is that basically, we can't do anything to help her?"

He nodded in response, "The army's on our trail. For now, we've got to keep moving. For now." Sazh repeated when Snow sent him a look.

"So I just abandon her, and save myself?" Snow shouted angrily, his voice echoing through the lake.

"What about your Focus?" Lightning said suddenly, causing Snow to stop from saying more. "What happened to banding together and saving the world? Isn't that what you promised? Now you want to forget it all and die right here? Snow? You're nothing but talk." She walked away from him with that, stopping when he called her.

"Lightning! I'll do whatever it takes. I'll finish this Focus…_and _keep Serah safe. That's my promise."

"Great job so far." She began to leave, and Sazh approached Snow and gave him a halfhearted smile.

He grinned, "Stay out of trouble."

Sazh made a noise of agreement and patted his shoulder as he walked by, "You too."

Only us three children remained in front of Snow, Vanille mumbling quietly, Snow grinning at us and pointing to the direction Lightning and Sazh had gone in. "Get going."

Vanille listened and began to head off in the same direction, Hope running after her, stopping to talk with Snow. "Snow…"

Snow grinned and pointed after Vanille. "Save it for next time, kiddo. You'll get left behind."

"But…"

"It's okay, Hope. Light will take care of you. We'll meet again."

"Yeah…Count on it." He took off, leaving me standing there still.

"Say, kid…better hurry after them or you'll get left behind."

I nodded, "I know. But first…I wanted to thank you."

He was obviously confused, "Huh?"

I smiled up at him, "I was in the group of people that you helped earlier. Because of you, you helped me get my freedom back, somewhat. So…thank you. And, um…Miss Serah is very lucky to have a guy like you watching out for her."

I apparently must've shocked him, since the look on his face was one of surprise. I thought he wasn't going to say anything, but then he suddenly smiled, ruffling my hair.

"You're welcome, kid. And thanks. That means a lot to me."

"Lyyyyrrraaaa!" I looked to see Vanille waving at me to hurry up.

"Coming! Um, don't die, okay? I like you a lot, since you remind me of someone!" I took off at that, running to join up with the others, leaving Snow behind.

* * *

**A/N: Ahaha, I know what you're all thinking. Sorry, I've been extremely busy, namely school being one of them. I hate it and it sucks ass...so yeah, review and stuff! LATER TATERS!**


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